Aidan Gillen

Aidan Gillen was born on April 24, 1968, in Dublin, Ireland.
The son of an architect father and a nurse mother, Gillen grew up in the Drumcondra district and began his acting career by joining the Dublin Youth Theatre during his youth.
His sister, Fionnuala Murphy, is also an actress, while his brother Dominic Murphy is a playwright.
At the start of his career, because another union-registered actor named Aidan Murphy already existed, he adopted his mother's maiden name, "Gillen," as his stage name.
Gillen launched his professional career in Irish and British theatres before making his first major screen appearance in "Queer as Folk" (1999–2000), a groundbreaking series in British television history.
The manipulative yet charismatic character of Stuart Alan Jones, which he portrayed in the series, earned him a BAFTA TV Award nomination for Best Actor and brought his talent to international attention.
He further cemented his theatrical success with his performance in Harold Pinter's "The Caretaker," which led to his 2004 Tony Award nomination on Broadway.

In his American career, he earned great respect for his role as Tommy Carcetti, an ambitious and idealistic politician in HBO's acclaimed crime drama "The Wire" (2004–2008). However, the performance that elevated Aidan Gillen to global icon status and placed him at the heart of popular culture was his portrayal of Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish in the HBO production "Game of Thrones" (2011–2017). Over seven seasons, he embodied a scheming and composed lord who embraced the philosophy that "chaos is a ladder," leaving an indelible mark on audiences as one of the series' most intelligent and dangerous characters. Carrying his television success into film, the Irish-born actor delivered a brief but memorable performance as a CIA agent in the opening scene of Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012). He also portrayed Janson, the primary antagonist, in the young adult dystopian series "Maze Runner" (2015–2018), and played John Reid, the manager of the band Queen, in the biographical film "Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018). Additionally, he appeared in the critically acclaimed musical "Sing Street" (2016).

In recent years, Gillen has continued to appear in television's most prestigious productions. In the period crime drama series "Peaky Blinders" (2017–2019), he delivered a charismatic performance as the Romani triggerman Aberama Gold. Subsequently, he portrayed Frank Kinsella, the leader of a criminal family, in the Irish crime drama series "Kin" (2021–2023), and Milo Sunter, a Russian mafia boss, in the series "Mayor of Kingstown" (2021–2024) starring Jeremy Renner, thereby maintaining his mastery in roles depicting dangerous and powerful men. In the near future, he once again showcased his dramatic side by taking the lead role in the film "That They May Face the Rising Sun" (2023), adapted from a novel by Irish author John McGahern.